The Islamic Republic of Iran executed four Kurdish political prisoners Pezhman Fatehi, Mohsen Mazloum, Mohammad Faramarzi and Vafa Azarbar early on Monday.
On Sunday, families were finally allowed to meet them for the first and last time since their arrests.
The four men were arrested in Urmia, West Azerbaijan, on 22 June 2022 and have been held incommunicado ever since. They reportedly were tortured into delivering forced confessions broadcasted by state media. Ultimately, the Tehran Revolutionary Court, following proceedings marred by serious violations of fair trial and due process standards, sentenced them all to death for moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) on alleged espionage charges for Israel.
Earlier, Mohsen Mazloum’s wife, Joanna Taimasi told Iran Human Rights: “They were arrested a year and a half ago and we’ve heard nothing since. We have no information about their location and health. Last week, a lawyer told us that my husband and his friends’ sentence had been issued by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court and upheld by Branch 9 of the Supreme Court. These sentences were issued in an unfair trial with only a court-appointed lawyer present. Each of them had a court-appointed lawyer but they wouldn’t even let their own lawyers read the case. Ultimately, their sentences were upheld within 24 hours.”
UN experts disclosed that at least 834 people were executed in Iran in 2023, with eight of them linked to nationwide protests.
“In June 2022, they travelled to Urmia unarmed and on behalf of the Komala party for political activities where they were arrested. The Islamic Republic aired their forced confessions after 80 days in which they were tortured to say they were Mosad agents and Israeli spies and had planned to blow up an industrial centre in Isfahan,” she added.
